Blood and Shadow
by Broken Stone
Summary: Harry finds himself in trouble with a creature that almost no one apart from him can see.
1. Hexes and Thefts

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the character of Harry Potter, any of the spells, magical devises etc. that are the property of JK Rowling. I am only borrowing them and they will be returned to the owner undamaged and in their original packaging. **

**Author's Note: I wrote two chapters to this. Now I've re-thought the story so I've re-written those two chapters. It is set in Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts in an Alternate Universe, so I've ignored the events of the Goblet of Fire for the most part. I tried not to, but it was confusing the story too much. I've tried to be as accurate as possible, but of course we all make mistakes. Since I now have limited access to the internet, my ability to research exactly is a little reduced. If anyone notices any mistakes I've made, don't point them out in reviews but just message them to me and then I can correct them.**

**Blood and Shadow**

**Chapter One: Hexes and Thefts**

The atmosphere in the office was decidedly frosty, broken only by the rattle of rain on the windows. Even Fawkes remained silent, his head tucked under a brilliant red and gold wing.

Professor Dumbledore cleared his throat and said, 'I think an apology might be in order at this moment.'

Harry scowled down at his shoes, his face bright red with anger. He shot a swift, sideways look loaded with resentment at Draco Malfoy, who was seated next to him. Malfoy was also looking down at his feet, his expression blank.

'Mister Malfoy?' Dumbledore prompted gently.

Harry worked out why Malfoy was looking at his feet. Not out of remorse, or just annoyance at having been caught, but because the little git was still sniggering quietly.

'Mister Malfoy,' Dumbledore said, more firmly. 'Please apologise to Harry.'

Malfoy sighed. 'Do I have to?'

The Headmaster drummed his fingers impatiently on his desk. 'Yes,' he said, his tone calm and level. It was clear his patience was waning.

'But he provoked me,' Malfoy protested, although without much strength.

'Did not!' Harry exclaimed furiously.

'Yes you did, Potter,' Malfoy said with a sneer. 'By your very existence, you provoke me and sometimes I can't restrain myself from attempting to turn you into something unpleasant. I'm only human, after all.'

'Not so sure about that,' Harry muttered resentfully.

''Enough!' Dumbledore said sharply, although Harry was positive the Headmaster was hiding a smile. 'Draco, apologise to Harry. _Now_.'

'I'm sorry,' Malfoy said wearily. 'Happy?'

'No,' Harry said coldly.

'And you will both spend your evenings for this week helping Hagrid in the Forest,' Dumbledore added.

Harry exploded. 'What?! I get detention?! You saw what he did to me and we both get detention?!'

'Yes, Harry,' Dumbledore said, quite calmly. 'Because I saw what you attempted to do to him which unfortunately mis-fired and hit Pansy Parkinson.'

At this, both Harry and Malfoy sniggered, then gave each other horrified looks and stopped. Harry wondered briefly if, by 'unfortunately' Dumbledore meant it was unfortunate that he _hadn't_ hit Malfoy.

'Detention,' Dumbledore said in a tone that indicated that this meeting was now over. 'Start tonight, please, after dinner. And no more fighting. Not unless you want to spend the entire year in detention.' He paused and looked over at them and said in a tone of calm interest, 'Perhaps a spell of detentions together, helping Hagrid, will persuade you two to give up this ridiculous feud. You are both in your sixth year. You might consider growing out of this now you are nearing adulthood.' The Headmaster's tone was not patronising, but he did look from one to the other reproachfully and then added, 'The Sorting Hat will tell you that to be strong we must all work together. I would like you to consider that over the course of this week.'

The two boys avoided looking at each other, although Dumbledore, watching the expressions of horror, disgust and stubbornness crossing both faces, was willing to bet that they were thinking the same thing.

'_Work with him? Hell will freeze over first!'_

Malfoy ignored Harry as they left, still smirking as he strolled down the corridor in the direction of the Slytherin common room. Harry glared after him, debated casting a hex on Malfoy's back, then decided better of it. He wasn't that sneaky and he thought that it might be pushing Dumbledore's obvious amusement over the entire situation a little bit too far. Hexing Malfoy or beating him into the ground would have to remain a happy fantasy. For the moment, at least. Regretfully, he tucked his wand back in his pocket and wandered back to the Gryffindor common room, still stinging over the unfairness that had led Dumbledore to make him to detention.

The entire thing had started, as usual, with him and Malfoy making nasty little comments about each other and each other's friends. Then Malfoy had made some comment about Harry's parents and Harry had made a comment back about Malfoy's parents and then they pulled wands on each other, despite Hermione and Ron's attempts to restrain Harry. Harry's own hex had missed Malfoy by a mile and hit Pansy Parkinson instead, covering her in thick black hair that Madam Pomfrey was having lots of trouble getting rid of. Harry's poor aim was entirely excused by the fact that Malfoy's own hex had only a second before caused Harry's nose and ears to sprout to ten times their correct size, almost overbalancing Harry and making sure that he spent the next three hours in the care of Madam Pomfrey. Professor Dumbledore had sent for them both when Harry's nose and ears had been returned to their original size. And now he had detention. With Malfoy.

He sighed and muttered at the Fat Lady, 'Wufflepod,' and went into the Gryffindor common room. He still had some free time before his next lesson.

'How did it go?' Ron yelled over at him above the noise. He was playing Hermione at chess, and Harry saw that he was beating her thoroughly. Hermione was glaring fiercely at the board, practically making Ron's chess pieces tremble with fear.

'I got detention,' Harry said morosely, slouching into a comfy chair opposite them.

'Aww, mate,' Ron said with great sympathy.

'Doing what?' Hermione asked, carefully moving her castle.

'Helping Hagrid. All week. And it's terrible weather,' Harry complained.

'Hah, check!' Ron crowed delightedly. He grinned at Hermione, who scowled.

'Excuse me?' Harry said, waving a hand at them both. 'Do you mind? I have detention with Malfoy? You know, _Malfoy_? For the week? Helping Hagrid?'

'You've survived worse,' Hermione said with a marked lack of sympathy, still staring at the chess board. 'I mean, you've faced V - Voldemort,' she said quickly, ignoring Ron's yelp of alarm. 'Detention with Malfoy should hold no fears for you.'

'Thanks,' Harry muttered. 'Thank you very much for your support.'

'No problem,' Ron said absently. 'Hermione, you've lost. Checkmate in two moves.'

'I can think my way out of this,' she insisted.

'This is the fourth game we've played today. You've lost every single – '

Harry kicked him under the table and Ron's mouth snapped shut as Harry shook his head in warning. Hermione's face was going bright red. She hated the fact that Ron always beat her at chess. Privately, Harry thought it was good for them both – Hermione got practise at being beaten at something intellectual and Ron got to beat her at something intellectual.

'When does your detention start?' Ron asked as Hermione finally conceded defeat.

'Tonight. After dinner, usual time.' Harry sighed. 'I only defended myself,' he complained.

'No one is disputing that, Harry,' Hermione said. 'But you got caught and Dumbledore saw you. Can't get out of that.'

'What, it's okay as long as I don't get caught?'

She rolled her eyes. 'No. But that's why you got detention. Beside, you did try and hex Malfoy – '

'Because he hexed me!'

'The reasons you and Malfoy tried to hex each are far more complicated than that,' Ron observed. 'Not that I'm saying it isn't okay to hex Malfoy,' he said hurriedly as Harry scowled at him and then when Hermione frowned, added, 'Not that it's good to hex people – come on, Hermione, you once punched Malfoy! Don't tell me he doesn't deserve it!' He gave up and said, 'Look, you get caught doing the crime you do the time. That's pretty much how it goes. Just be glad it wasn't Snape who caught you.'

Harry considered this, then shrugged. 'Fair enough,' he said reluctantly. 'I suppose you've got a point. But it's still detention with Malfoy…' He gave up. It was useless angling for sympathy when there was none available. 'All right. Hermione, will you help me with my Potions homework?' She looked dubious and he was positive she was about to say no, so he said quickly, 'I can't do it and my detention and then I'll probably have another detention from Snape and then I won't have time to do all my other work – '

'All right, all right!' she exclaimed, smiling. 'I'll help you with your Potions homework, you can look at mine.'

'Hermione, you're a life-saver,' he said as she handed her roll of parchment over. 'Will you check it for me, too?'

She frowned, then sighed and nodded. 'Yes, I'll check it for you,' she said in a long-suffering voice. 'No,' she said curtly as Ron looked hopeful.

_Let me look at yours?_ Ron mouthed at Harry who nodded quickly when Hermione wasn't looking, immersed in a book on Ancient Runes.

'Hear you got detention with the odious little git, Malfoy,' Fred said, as he and George appeared behind the three others. He was grinning. 'Poor Harry.'

'Yeah, just think, if you'd hit him you could have spent your detention reminiscing about how much better he looked covered in black hair,' George said. 'Would have made the whole thing worth it, mate.'

Harry and Ron both laughed at this. Hermione didn't appear to be listening, as engrossed as she was in her book. 'Shouldn't you two be working?' she said, not looking up.

'That's right, kill the mood,' George said.

'Mind you, your aim was right off,' Fred said to Harry. 'I know your aim's usually better than that.'

'He had just sprouted nose and ears a giant would be proud of,' George pointed out fairly. 'Or so we hear,' he added, looking at Harry.

Harry scowled. 'That was uncomfortable,' he said crossly. 'Madam Pomfrey was the only person who didn't start laughing the moment she saw me.'

'We had to cover him with a coat to get him up the hospital wing,' Ron said to the twins, hiding a smile with difficultly. 'We saw McGonagall in the corridor - even she started to laugh. Well, she smiled. I suppose that counts.'

'I guess Madam Pomfrey's pretty much seen it all here,' Fred said. 'She'll be used to the weird things that happen to students here by now.'

'I said, shouldn't you two be working?' Hermione said in a louder voice, frowning over the top of her book. 'We really should be, and Harry has a Potions essay to finish.'

The four boys deflated.

'Honestly, Hermione - ' George started.

'She's right,' Harry said morosely, unrolling the essay that Hermione had lent him. Although he would have preferred to continue the totally pointless conversation with Ron and the twins, she had just lent him her essay and it would have been ungrateful of him not to bother with his work. He sighed and stared down at Hermione's neat handwriting on the parchment.

'Actually, we did have a reason for turning up,' George said, ignoring Hermione's heavy sigh.

'It's something interesting,' Fred said, scowling at her.

'Well then?' she said impatiently. 'What is it?'

'Oh, interested now, are we?' George said, grinning.

'No, but the sooner you tell us, the sooner you'll go away and let us work.'

The twins rolled their eyes at each other. 'Lovely, good-natured girl, isn't she?' Fred said to Harry and Ron who, with an instinct for self-preservation, didn't reply.

'Here,' George said, dropping a copy of the Daily Prophet in front of them. 'Seen this?'

'What?' Harry said, peering at the front page and the headline written in bold, black letters.

_**Theft from Azkaban!**_

_There has been a terrible breach in secutiry at the wizarding prison Azkaban. Ministry sources report that an item of great value that was secured there has been stolen. Although the nature of the item has not been revealed, it can be presumed that it is something of significant value and importance._

'Theft from Azkaban?' Ron said, frowning. 'What would anyone want to steal from Azkaban? There's only criminals kept there!'

'Exactly,' George said. 'Why not call it a break-out, or escape or something? Unless,' he wiggled his eyebrows, 'it wasn't a person what went missing?'

'But - from Azkaban?' Ron repeated, confused.

'Stolen,' Harry said. 'So it's not a person, then. What would anyone want to keep at Azkaban, except for criminals?'

'Most things of any value are kept at Gringott's,' Ron said.

'Actually,' Hermione said, 'that kind of makes sense, doesn't it?'

They all looked at her.

'Maybe whatever it was that was stolen was something that no one wanted to risk anyone getting hold of,' she said. 'I know the bank is usually secure and that the goblins are excellent at security - but if you wanted to put something where there would be no chance of it being stolen - well, who in their right mind would steal something from Azkaban? Who would even think of looking there?'

'She has a point,' Fred said, sounding impressed. 'Anyway, there's a big hoo-ha about it.'

'I wonder what it was?' Ron said.

'Which brings us to the point of this little visit,' Fred said.

'We were wondering if Sirius might know anything about it,' George said to Harry.

'Probably not,' Harry said.

'He was a prisoner,' Hermione reminded them. 'He wasn't exactly allowed to wander around and poke about, was he?'

'He's the only person who might know,' George said, shrugging.

'Who would actually tell us,' Fred added.

'Meaning?' Ron asked.

'I bet you a box of Sugar Quills old Dumbledore knows,' Fred said. 'But I'll bet you another box he wouldn't tell us, even if we asked.'

'So you're hoping Sirius might,' Harry said, shaking his head. 'Why are you so interested?'

'Cos it's interesting,' George said, picking up the paper. 'That's all.'

'I'll ask him in my next letter,' Harry said, picking up his quill again and looking ruefully at Hermione's essay and his own blank sheet of parchment.

'Fair enough,' Fred said and with that, the twins had gone.

'Honestly!' Hermione muttered, resuming her reading.

'You got to admit, it is interesting,' Ron said. 'I'm wondering what was stolen now.'

'No one else is that interested,' Hermione muttered.

'No one here's interested in anything in the Daily Prophet unless it's proclaiming something about You-Know-Who or printing nasty stories about Harry,' Ron said.

'If it was kept at Azkaban, I bet whatever it was, it was dangerous,' Harry said as he began to write slowly, trying not to copy Hermione's notes but trying to stick as close to her general theme as he could without risking Snape noticing.

'Are you going to ask Sirius?' Ron asked him.

'Yeah, but it's not that important, is it?' Harry said, pausing in his writing. 'I'm not going to worry about it - why should I? Can't be anything about Voldemort, can it? Else everyone would be worried about it here, too.'

'What if it is something to do with - You-Know-Who - Vol - Voldemort?' Ron said quietly. It had taken Harry a long time to persuade Hermione and Ron to say the name, and they both still winced or jumped when one of them said it.

Harry shrugged. 'Then we'll find out eventually, won't we?' he said with a lightness he did not feel. 'We usually do when something involves Voldemort, usually at the time when he's trying to kill me, but at least we find out.' He smiled at the expression on Ron and Hermione's faces. 'Honestly. I was joking, lighten up, won't you?'

The bell rang for their next class. Quickly, the three of them gathered their things up and hurried off to their Charms lesson.

Professor Flitwick had them practising Colour-Changing Charms silently, although most of the class, with the obvious exception of Hermione, still hadn't got the hang of using magic without saying the incantations aloud.

Harry went back to bemoaning his detention. 'It really isn't fair,' he said, trying to change his mouse from white to purple. 'I might just hex Malfoy just so I deserve having detention.'

'Harry, will you shut up about your detention - ' Hermione began impatiently when Seamus interrupted.

'Dumbledore gave you detention, too?' he said. 'You didn't actually hit Malfoy!'

'He did hit Pansy,' Hermione pointed out, although she didn't sound too bothered about that, considering how much she disliked Pansy Parkinson.

Seamus waved this aside. 'But still! Malfoy deserves to be hexed!'

'Hear, hear,' Dean said, frowning at his mouse and waving his wand. His mouse remained stubbornly white.

'You heard about that stuff in the Daily Prophet?' Neville asked, joining in.

Hermione rolled her eyes. 'The two subjects of the day,' she muttered, turning her mouse purple and then green and then back to white with a few flicks of her wand. 'Harry's stupid detention and the stupid thing stolen from Azkaban. Can't you all just give it a rest?'

The boys all ignored her. She rolled her eyes again and entertained herself by turning her mouse a varieties of colours and then pointing out the fact she had managed that to them just to irritate them.


	2. Detention With Hagrid

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the character of Harry Potter, any of the spells, magical devises etc. that are the property of JK Rowling. I am only borrowing them and they will be returned to the owner undamaged and in their original packaging. **

**Chapter Two: Detention With Hagrid**

'What were ye thinkin?' Hagrid muttered to Harry as they waited for Malfoy to turn up. Harry had gone down to Hagrid's hut early to have a cup of tea with him and to complain about Malfoy. 'Ye know what that Malfoy's like, and ye know Dumbledore'd 'ave ter give ye detention too!'

'I know,' Harry said grumpily. He had not expected to get the same lecture off of Hagrid as he had off of Ron and Hermione. He had expected to find a slightly more sympathetic ear, but apparently it was not to be. 'It would have been so worth it if I'd actually hit him,' he ruminated. 'Then I wouldn't have minded the detention so much.'

Hagrid laughed, then scowled. 'An' here he comes,' he said.

Malfoy sauntered up the hut, his hands in the pockets of his robes and looked down his nose at Hagrid, quite a feat considering how far Hagrid towered over him.

'I'm here for my detention,' he said flatly, as if there was anything other reason that he would be at Hagrid's hut.

'Good,' Hagrid said shortly. 'Come on, both o' ye. I got something interetin' for ye ter be gettin' on with.' He motioned for them to follow him towards the forbidding gloom of the Forest. Both boys eyed the dark trees with trepidation.

Hagrid stopped before they got their, to their joint relief, although neither of them said anything. 'Now,' Hagrid said, 'this is the spot, all right.' He beamed at the both in the growing darkness.

'What are we supposed to be doing?' Malfoy demanded, looking bored.

Hagrid frowned at him. 'You going ter be collectin' will o' the wisps,' he said. 'They like marshland usually, but cos of all this rain we been 'avin' we got quite a few of 'em floatin around. They're not dangerous, jus' quick, but I reckon two Seekers should be able ter catch a few of 'em. I got some jars for ye to put em in,' he added, pointing to a neat pile of glass jars on the ground. 'Get as many as ye can.'

'You're leaving us?' Harry said, surprised.

Hagrid looked just as surprised. 'Got me own work ter do, 'Arry,' he said, looking shifty. 'Won't be far, so if ye get into trouble, jus' yell.' He grinned and waved as he ambled away.

'Wonderful,' Malfoy muttered, picking up a jar. 'Where are these stupid wisp things, anyway?'

Harry looked past Malfoy at a small, shimmering light dancing over the wet grass and muddy ground. It was about the same size as a snitch, and moved about as fast.

'There,' he said, walking softly towards it. It danced away from him, but he moved forwards quickly and snatched at it. He caught it. It struggled in his hand, fluttering softly against his palm and fingers, and he stuffed it quickly into a jar and slammed the lid on top. The creature inside, with no definable shape, was simply a blur of silvery light that beaten itself against the glass for a moment and then gave up and sank to the bottom of the jar. Harry admired it for a moment, it was very pretty, and then picked up another jar.

Malfoy had already caught two. He didn't seem very interested in how pretty they were, he just wanted to get the job done and be allowed to go back inside. They worked in silence. It had started raining again, heavily now, and as the ground became even more muddy, a fine mist springing up, more and more will o' the wisps became visible.

They had run out of jars. There were still plenty of the little creatures to be caught, but with no more jars they couldn't do much. Harry wasn't sure whether they could get away with putting more than one in a jar and anyway, it was getting late. He opened his mouth to say to Malfoy that he thought they should find Hagrid and see if he would let them go, when he stopped, frowning.

The wind was picking up, rustling through the trees. Harry pulled out his wand. He raised it and was about to shout, '_Lumos!_' when something crashed into him, hurling him to the ground. He rolled, keeping his grip on his wand, feeling something tear through his sleeve and then warm blood trickle down his arm. For a brief moment he wondered if Malfoy had decided to attack him.

'_Lumos!_' Malfoy yelled and a small beam of light illuminated the area. 'Potter, what the hell did you just do?'

Harry didn't reply, because he was staring over Malfoy's shoulder. The blond boy stared at him and looked behind him. 'What?' he demanded, scowling.

Harry still didn't reply. He just stared at the creature gradually becoming visible behind Malfoy. Slowly, like smoke wreathing above a fire, a shape was becoming visible. It looked rather like a Patronus, if a Patronus was evil. This was a silvery dragon, although smaller than most dragons, with massive wings and pale red eyes. It stared down at Harry, flapping its wings as it gazed. Then it opened its mouth, roared, and dove towards him.

Harry ducked and threw himself to the side.

'What the hell are you doing? Are you crazy?' Malfoy said loudly.

'Are you crazy?!' Harry yelled back. 'There's a bloody great big dragon thing! It's attacking us!'

Malfoy simply looked at him in astonishment. 'Potter, I really think you have finally lost what little mind you had.'

The dragon hovered in the air. Harry got to his feet, his eyes never leaving it. It seemed to be considering its next move. He had the distinct impression that it was simply playing with him at the moment.

'There's a dragon there,' Harry said slowly. 'Malfoy, you should run – '

'What dragon?' Malfoy said, looking honestly baffled.

Harry frowned. 'You mean you don't see it? It's right there – behind you – '

Malfoy looked over his shoulder and turned an expression of what Harry knew was genuine bewilderment. 'Potter, you are crazy,' he said in a flat voice. 'I always knew you were, and now I have the proof.'

'I'm not crazy! It's there!' Harry pointed his wand. The smoky dragon simply eyed him silently, flapping its wings lazily. He wondered why it didn't attack.

Malfoy grabbed his arm, painfully, and said, 'Poor, crazy Potter. It's to St Mungo's for you and it probably where you belong – '

The dragon attacked.

Harry grabbed Malfoy by the front of his robes and hurled them both to the ground. He heard Malfoy yell in surprised and again in pain and then they were both falling, tumbling over and over as they crashed down a slope and landed in a heap at the bottom.

Harry rolled to his knees, lifted his wand, pointed it at the dragon and yelled,** '**_Incendio!'_

There was a brief flash of flame. The dragon twisted in mid-air and avoided it easily. It opened its mouth, breathed in and –

'Where ye got to?' Hagrid's voice shouted from the top of the slope.

The dragon vanished. Harry stared at the spot it had been in a moment ago and, at the sound of Hagrid's approaching footsteps, stuffed his wand quickly into his pocket and looked around for Malfoy.

The other boy was lying on the ground, blood running down the side of his face, turning his blond hair an ugly reddish colour. His face had gone very pale. He had obviously hit his head quite badly when they had landed, because his cheek was bruised and smeared with mud, but he looked fine, other than being a little dazed. There was a tear in the shoulder of his robe and a nasty cut was leaking blood onto his robes. It looked as if it had been made with a knife.

_Or a claw,_ Harry thought to himself.

'What happened to ye?' Hagrid demanded, tramping down the slope and looking at them both with a deep frown. 'Ye been fightin'?'

'No,' Harry said quickly. 'We – didn't see the slope and fell. I think Malfoy hit his head,' he added. He wasn't sure that Hagrid would believe that he had just seen a dragon that appeared to be made of silvery smoke and since Malfoy hadn't seen it, and Hagrid obviously hadn't seen it, he was probably going to sound as if he was insane. Although he knew Malfoy was going to start going on about how Harry had been going crazy and then attacked him, he was pretty certain that Hagrid would take his word over Malfoy's.

Hagrid glanced at Malfoy. 'Ye hit ye head?'

Malfoy nodded. 'Slipped in the mud,' he said slowly, rubbing his head. 'Fell down that bloody slope in the bloody dark.'

Harry was speechless with astonishment. He hadn't actually expected Malfoy to go along with his lame story, he had just hoped that Hagrid would either take his word over Malfoy's, or Malfoy would be too dazed to argue. He eyed Malfoy with instant suspicion.

'All righ',' Hagrid said eventually. 'Better get ye back ter the castle, get that head seen ter. Ye bleedin'.'

'Yeah, whatever,' Malfoy muttered. He shot Harry an unreadable look and staggered to his feet. There was blood on his robes. Hagrid held onto Malfoy's arm to keep him on his feet. Harry followed them slowly, thinking deeply, not really listening to Hagrid continue about what their detention tomorrow would be.

It was only when Malfoy exclaimed, 'You really are crazy,' in a flat, horrified voice that Harry suddenly paid attention.

Hagrid scowled at Malfoy. 'Ye don' think I'm crazy, right Harry?'

'Huh?' Harry said. 'What?'

'This overgrown moron has a new pet,' Malfoy informed him. 'Guess what it is?'

The cold and the damp weather seeped through into the very stones of the castle so that its halls were cold and miserable. Students stayed in their common rooms and dormitories rather than venture into the freezing corridors that evening. The fire in the Gryffindor common room was blazing and had a group of students huddling around it.

Hermione was looking out of one of the windows, a large jumper wrapped around her. She was looking for Harry.

'I don't know why you're so worried, Hermione,' Ron said from where he was sprawled on a large armchair, covered in a thick blanket and reading a magazine on Quidditch. 'Harry will be fine.'

Hermione shot Ron a disgusted look. 'He has detention with Malfoy, Ron. Helping Hagrid. In the rain.'

Ron struggled to sit up. 'He can cope,' he said, grinning. 'He'll be fine.'

She frowned at him.

'Besides,' Ron continued with an astounding lack of sympathy, 'it's his own fault. If he hadn't got caught he wouldn't be in this mess.'

'I can't believe Dumbledore gave him detention,' Hermione muttered. 'I know I wasn't very sympathetic earlier but it is a nasty night and it is Malfoy – '

'Dumbledore didn't have much choice. Malfoy got detention because he provoked Harry, but Dumbledore had to give Harry a detention for being stupid enough to hit back.' He blinked. 'What's happened to me? I sound like you!'

Hermione snorted at this, then forgot it as the door to the common room opened and Harry slouched in, soaking wet and looking slightly dazed.

'Harry! Are you all right?' Hermione asked, staring at him. Half the Gryffindors in there turned and stared at Harry as well. He made his way towards the fire and the students huddled around it moved out of his way.

'What's wrong?' Ron asked, shaking him by the shoulder. 'Harry?'

'He looks like someone punched him,' Ginny said.

'You know,' Harry said in a very thoughtful tone, 'I don't agree with Malfoy on anything but this time, I have admit, I think he's right.'

Ron, Hermione and Ginny all turned and stared at him in astonishment.

'What did you say?' Hermione asked.

Ron was slack-jawed with amazed horror.

'I said I agreed with Malfoy on something,' Harry said. He wasn't smiling.

'Is this a joke?' Ron begged him plaintively.

'No. You'll agree, too.'

'No, the day I agree with Malfoy will be the day that Hell freezes over,' Ron said.

'Hear me out.' Harry collapsed into a chair beside the fire. 'You know my detention with Hagrid tomorrow?'

'Yes,' the others all said.

'He has a new creature he wants us to help him with,' Harry continued. 'He might even show it to our class.'

'Get to the point,' Hermione said impatiently.

'It's a wyvern,' Harry said in a dull, listless voice.

There was a horrified silence.

'Called Wibble,' Harry added. 'And Malfoy said that Hagrid has finally gone stark raving bonkers and half our class is going to die.'

'I take it back,' Ron said in an awed voice. 'I do agree.'

'Told you so.' Harry crouched in front of the fire, shaking with cold.

'Harry, go and dry off,' Hermione told him quickly. 'Go on, or you'll catch something!'

'Okay,' Harry said quietly and shuffled off upstairs, leaving a trail of wet carpet, mud and leaves behind him as he went. It had been a weird night and now he had to worry not only about stopping himself from punching Malfoy and getting even more detentions, he also had to worry about possibly real possibly not real dragons and a very unfortunately real wyvern with the unlikely name of Wibble.

This was not shaping up to be a good week.


	3. We Have To Talk

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the character of Harry Potter, any of the spells, magical devises etc. that are the property of JK Rowling. I am only borrowing them and they will be returned to the owner undamaged and in their original packaging.**

**Chapter Three: We Have To Talk**

Harry reflected that it was the nature of the universe that, when he didn't want to see Malfoy, he kept turning up and yet, when Harry actually wanted to speak to him, he couldn't be found.

Gazing out of the window as Professor Binns droned on and on, staring unseeingly at the dreary rain as it poured down the glass, Harry reflected on his own state of mind. He hadn't told Ron and Hermione about the incident with the smoke dragon a couple of nights before, because he wasn't entirely certain what it was he had seen. Malfoy apparently hadn't seen it and a gut instinct told Harry that for once, Malfoy hadn't been trying to screw with his head. He genuinely hadn't seen it. Which made Harry doubt what he had himself apparently seen. Harry wanted to speak to him to find out if Malfoy might have heard something or felt something when the dragon had attacked him.

Of course, the fact that he actually _wanted_ to talk to Malfoy was calling his sanity into question now.

He wondered what Ron and Hermione would have to say about that. And about invisible dragons who suddenly became visible only to Harry. And invisible dragons that attacked Harry.

He chewed the end of his quill absently, scowling at the pouring rain. It was too wet and windy even to practise Quidditch, so he couldn't even play to take his mind off of what had happened. And they had a match coming up against Hufflepuff next week. Plus, he still had detention, he hadn't finished his assignments that were due in that week, except for Potions which Hermione had checked for him and warned him not to lend to Ron. Which Harry had, of course, done as soon as she had left the room.

He wondered what he should do. So far, he had been unable to track Malfoy down. Malfoy had been excused the last couple of detentions because he had been concussed on the first night, so he was going to have to make up those detentions next week, when Harry didn't have any, so Harry would have no excuse to talk to him then. It had been impossible to talk to Malfoy in any of their classes without looking extremely suspicious.

Harry was also annoyed that Malfoy had, so far, managed to get out of having to help Hagrid with Wibble. Taking care of a young, excitable although fortunately not very vicious wyvern was not Harry's idea of a good time. Wibble kept coughing toxic clouds of smoke over Harry and making him pass out. Hagrid regarded this as fairly adorable and couldn't understand why Harry had flatly refused to go near the creature after the first night taking care of him.

The only bright side was that Malfoy was going to be inflicted upon the poor thing next week. Harry actually dredged up some pity for Wibble.

But the smoke-dragon thing was occupying his mind.

He doodled on his page, then groaned under his breath. He had been drawing a dragon on his parchment that he was supposed to be writing notes on. Now he really was losing his marbles.

'Something wrong, Harry?' Ron asked as they left the classroom and made their way long the corridor towards the common room.

'No,' Harry said cautiously. 'What makes you think there's something wrong?'

'You weren't paying much attention in class.'

Hermione snorted. 'Right, because _you_ weren't practically snoring. As usual, I might add.'

Harry listened in some relief as the two started bickering in their usual cheerful manner. At least it meant that they weren't asking him what was wrong with him. Unfortunately, his relief was short-lived.

'But Ron is right,' Hermione said, dropping her books on a table in common room as Ron sprawled in an armchair beside the fire. They were the first people back, so the room was deserted. 'Something seems to be bothering you, Harry.' She looked concerned. 'You can tell us, you know.'

Harry considered informing her that he thought he might be going slightly crazy, but in all honesty that was probably an exaggeration, which she would no doubt point out. He managed a smile that felt almost genuine. 'Just a bit tired, Hermione,' he said. 'So much work on, and Quidditch, and of course we can't play right now so I'm worried we'll lose that match and we really can't afford to.'

Hermione rolled her eyes. 'I might have guessed,' she said wearily, but she smiled and looked relieved. He was pretty sure she believed him and he wasn't really lying – those were all things that were occupying his mind as well.

'Don't worry, we'll flatten Hufflepuff,' Ron said, stretching his legs out in front of the fire. 'They'll be eating dust.'

'Mud,' Harry said glumly, looking out of the window.

'Cheer up,' Ron said.

'How can I cheer up?' Harry said, without thinking. 'It's raining and we've got Potions next and I have a detention tonight.'

'It's your last detention,' Hermione pointed out. 'And I helped you with your Potions homework so you've got an essay to hand in.'

'That's true,' Harry said, nodding.

'There you are, then,' she said, sounding satisfied. She picked up a couple of books and started to flick through them, humming softly under her breath. The sound, with Ron's gentle snores as he fell asleep, was rather soothing. Harry smiled as he settled himself into a chair with a Remus Lupin had sent him the week before titled _An A-Z of Magical Creatures, _which was accompanied by a note saying,

_Hi Harry, I found this in a bookshop and thought you might like it, it's very good! Call it a late birthday present! Have fun, RL._

It was an encyclopaedia that listed every single known magical creature, including those that were extinct and listed all the dark creatures and also listed spells that were useful against them.

'Is that a good book?' Hermione asked, glancing up from her own books.

'Yeah,' Harry said vaguely. 'Lupin gave it to me, remember? You might like it. I bet Hagrid would like it, too.'

'Hmm.' She looked over at the sleeping Ron and shook her head with a sigh. 'Honestly,' she muttered.

Harry smiled behind his book and went back to reading. He had reached the B section and was reading about banshees when the bell went. It was time for Potions. Harry groaned, got up and whacked Ron lightly on the head with his book to wake him up.

Fortunately for Harry, Snape didn't pay much attention to him that lesson. The most Harry got in term of abuse from the Potions master was a sour glare as his essay was dropped on his desk with a C written on it in red ink. Harry breathed out in relief. Hopefully, Snape either hadn't realised that Hermione had helped him out or for once simply didn't care.

Their work that lesson was to make a Hiccoughing Potion and the next week they would be making an antidote and then trying the potions they had made this day. Harry thought it was a rather pointless piece of work, but it wasn't that hard a potion to make. Although, he noticed, the antidote was quite complicated.

Silently, the class started work. It was colder than usual in the dungeon and Harry wished he'd brought a pair of gloves, scarf and woolly hat.

Harry glanced over his shoulder and saw Malfoy carefully constructing a paper aeroplane from a piece of parchment. Harry went back to trying to make his potion, struggling as he usually did in these lessons. Not so much because he was truly terrible at Potions but because Snape's presence made him so tense and nervous as the man was always looking for nasty things to say or do.

Malfoy's paper aeroplane flew smoothly across the room and hit Harry on the head. It didn't fall to the ground, but repeatedly hit him on the head. Several people started giggling. Snape looked up, but rather than shouting at the pupil responsible, scowled and ignored it.

Glaring at Malfoy, Harry grabbed the paper and screwed it up, noticing that there was writing on it as he did so. He glanced down, reading it quickly. It was written in Malfoy's elegant, sloping handwriting.

_Need to talk, Potter. _

Harry rammed the paper into a pocket, still glaring over his shoulder as Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle sniggered.

Harry fumed quietly, as everyone expected him to do. Ron scowled at Malfoy and his cronies. If it had been anyone except Malfoy, no doubt the entire class, including Harry, would have found it more funny. Then again, no on except Malfoy would have dared to do such a thing in front of Snape. He wondered what Malfoy wanted to talk to him about but considered that it would be as good a time as any to question Malfoy himself.

At the end of the lesson he handed in his completed Potion, feeling quite pleased with himself. Since Snape had ignored everyone and said very little, seeming preoccupied, Harry had been able to get on with his work for once.

Just outside the classroom, Harry deliberately dropped a couple of books as Malfoy strode past. 'I've got detention with Hagrid tonight,' Harry complained in a loud voice to Ron and Hermione.

'We know,' Hermione said, looking annoyed. 'You keep going on about it, Harry.'

'Feel sorry for me,' Malfoy said loudly. 'I've got a detention with Potter, and Hairy Hagrid.' He shot Harry a disgusted look.

'You leave Hagrid alone!' Hermione snapped at him, brandishing a book.

Malfoy actually took a step backwards, obviously recalling the time Hermione had punched him in the face. He settled for sneering at the three friends and then turned and walked away, Crabbe and Goyle following him as usual.

Harry ate his dinner so fast that evening that Hermione, watching in amazement, commented, 'You know, anyone would think you wanted to get to this detention, Harry.'

'Yeah, which is weird considering how much you've been complaining about it,' Ron said. 'Although with something like a wyvern to take care of, I don't blame you.'

'Just want to get it over with,' Harry said quickly. 'You know, the sooner I get there the sooner it'll be over?'

'Nah, it'll drag for ten hours cos Malfoy said he's got detention too,' Ron said.

Harry shrugged. 'I'll ignore him or turn him into a toad when Hagrid's not looking.'

The other two laughed.

The detention wasn't as bad as Harry had feared it might be. Partly because Hagrid had finally got the message about Harry's aversion to Wibble and simply set him and Malfoy to digging over the vegetable patch whilst he took Fang for a walk. The ground was muddy, so it wasn't too hard to dig over and the rain had slowed so it wasn't too cold or miserable.

Once Hagrid had gone, Malfoy stopped digging and leaned on the handle of his spade and gave Harry a direct, icy stare. 'I hate to have to say this,' he said, 'but we have to talk.'

'Why do you want to talk?' Harry demanded.

'Don't think I'd choose to talk to you if I didn't think I had to,' Malfoy said shortly.

'Then talk, get it over and done with.'

Malfoy frowned. 'I want to talk to you about the other evening. That – thing – that attacked us.'

Harry stared, incredulous. 'You – saw it? I thought you didn't! I thought it was just me!'

'Well, at first it was,' Malfoy snapped. 'I did think you were going mad, Potter, although with you I appreciate that it would be hard to tell, to be perfectly honest.'

'Didn't think you knew how to be honest, Malfoy,' Harry muttered.

'You'd be surprised,' Malfoy snapped.

'Yeah, I bet I would.'

Malfoy glared but continued. 'Anyway, I didn't see it. Then you decided to be all heroic and get us both out of its way and it got me. Then I saw it. Although I had just hit my head, so I wasn't seeing quite clearly. Which I suppose I can thank you for,' he added with a touch of bitterness.

'You didn't get killed, you could at least pretend to be grateful.'

Malfoy ignored this. 'So what was it? That weird dragon thing?'

'I don't know,' Harry admitted. 'I didn't see it at first, but it hit me and then it sort of – appeared, gradually, and it looked as if it was made out of smoke, but somehow _solid_ smoke.'

'Yes, I saw that too,' Malfoy said thoughtfully. 'Why did it attack me? Something you summoned up to eat me and it accidentally went after you?'

'Actually, I was about to ask you that,' Harry said acidly.

'Please, give me some credit,' Malfoy muttered.

'I have trouble giving you credit for anything, Malfoy, except with being the biggest git in the world ever.'

'So it wasn't something you summoned up in your infinite stupidity,' Malfoy sneered. 'So you don't have any idea what it was.'

'Do you?' Harry said sharply, stung.

Malfoy shrugged. 'I don't care what it is, if it's after you, but if it's after me…although I can't imagine why it would be. Most monsters come after you.'

Harry had to admit the truth of this to himself, although he wasn't going to say as much to Malfoy. 'That was all you wanted to know, was it?' he said, angrily. 'If it, whatever it is, was after you.'

'Pretty much,' Malfoy nodded.

'You could have just asked me, instead of the stupid paper thing.'

'Oh, yes? How? We're not exactly on civil speaking terms at the best of times. This detention seemed the best time to actually talk about it, and I had to find out if you were on detention too.'

'You could have waited until detention to find out.'

'Well, yes, but it was too good opportunity to wind you up to miss. Plus, I knew I could get away with it in Snape's class.' Malfoy smirked at him and Harry resisted the temptation to kick him.

'If I can find out what it is,' Harry said as calmly as he could, 'I will let you know, Malfoy. Will you do the same?'

Malfoy sighed and said reluctantly, 'Oh, all right. Since it might be after me too. Or not, I really don't know.'

'It did attack you,' Harry reminded him. 'It attacked both of us.'

'Why don't you ask Hairy Hagrid?'

'Don't call him that!' Harry snapped. 'And I'm not going to ask him because it was only us who could see it! And you didn't see it at first! What if he thinks I'm crazy? And that you're crazy? He obviously had no idea it was there the other night, because he would have been all excited about it!'

'Fine, whatever,' Malfoy muttered. 'You told your two pathetic excuses for friends?'

Harry gritted his teeth, this time resisting the urge to punch Malfoy. 'Not yet,' he said when he had better control of his temper. 'I was going to wait and find out why you decided to go along with my lame story to Hagrid and if you had actually seen it or was just trying to screw with my head.'

Malfoy shrugged. 'All right,' he said coldly. 'I went along with your lame story because I was wondering about my sanity, or rather my state of mind at the time, since I had just hit my head. Although really, I should have just dropped you straight into trouble,' he added mournfully. 'I suppose the blow to my head clouded my judgement. Next time, I'll drop you in it, Potter.'

Harry debated knocking him out with the spade but decided against it. Hagrid wouldn't be happy if there was a dent in one of his spades. 'So, we actually agree to find out what this dragon-thing is?' he said.

'If I have to,' Malfoy muttered. 'The minute I find out it's after you and not me, you're on your own, Potter.'

'I did save your life from it,' Harry reminded him.

Malfoy didn't answer, just started muttering darkly under his breath as he resume digging. Once again, Harry reflected on the strange nature of the universe that it saw him having to talk civilly to Draco Malfoy and be talking to Malfoy about something he had not yet mentioned to either of his best friends.

He hoped that this state of affairs wouldn't carry on too long. It was seriously weird.


	4. Notes

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the character of Harry Potter, any of the spells, magical devises etc. that are the property of JK Rowling. I am only borrowing them and they will be returned to the owner undamaged and in their original packaging.**

**Chapter Four: Notes**

A few days later, Harry didn't any more idea of what the dragon-thing might be or what it might want, than he had had before. He hadn't seen it since, for which he was very grateful. The only plus side to this, apart from terrible, weird creatures not trying to kill him at that moment, was that it meant that he didn't have to have any contact with Malfoy, apart from the occasional paper aeroplane demanding, _You found out anything yet?_

However, he had other, more pressing problems than Malfoy irritating him.

'Did you ask Sirius yet?' George asked him at breakfast.

Harry scowled at his goblet of pumpkin juice and was saved from answering by the arrival of the post owls. Hedwig appeared beside him carrying his subscription of _Quidditch Weekly_ and he fed her some of his toast.

George persisted, 'Well, Harry? Have you?'

'No,' Harry said shortly. In fact, he had totally forgotten about asking Sirius about the theft from Azkaban in all he excitement, or bewilderment, of the smoke-dragon. He had also hoped that the others had also forgotten.

'Are you going to?' Fred asked impatiently. 'Come on, Harry, you might as well just ask him. What harm can it do?'

'Fine!' Harry snapped. He grabbed a piece of blank parchment and scribbled on it quickly and untidily.

_Hi Sirius,_

_Sorry to ask this but my friends won't stop nagging me about it – do you anything about that theft from Azkaban? Hope you are well,_

_Harry_

He fastened it to Hedwig's leg and said, 'Take it to Sirius, please.' She flew off and he turned back to his breakfast, ignoring the startled expressions on the faces of his friends.

'Something wrong, Harry?' Ginny asked him carefully.

'No,' he said quickly.

'Whatever,' Ginny muttered.

The others all exchanged glances.

'You sure, Harry?' Ron asked him. 'You've been a bit – moody recently.'

'Yes, I'm sure,' Harry said shortly. He scowled around the table and growled, 'Has anyone got anything else they'd like to say?'

'No,' they all chorused hastily.

'Good,' Harry muttered. He glanced up and saw Malfoy walk past and give him a hard stare and slight frown as he did so, a questioning look. Harry shook his head almost imperceptibly. Malfoy's stare turned into a furious scowl and he shook his head angrily before storming off to the Slytherin table.

Harry glared at his toast and stabbed it with his knife until it disintegrated into crumbs. The others all exchanged startled glances and silently went back to their own breakfasts, deliberately not looking at Harry.

* * *

_You are a moron._

Harry screwed up the paper aeroplane and glowered over his shoulder at Malfoy who simply smirked. He swore quietly under his breath and got back to trying to mix up the antidote to the Hiccoughing Potion they had made the week before.

A few minutes later, another one hit him in the back at the head.

_Meet me in the library after class._

Harry glanced over his shoulder but Malfoy wasn't looking in his direction; instead he was concentrating on his potion, scowling at the seething brew.

With a sigh, Harry went back to his antidote, wondering how he could get to the library after class, which wasn't a problem, but alone without any of his friends, which was.

He came up with a simple plan during the rest of the class. He handed in his potion, which even he had to admit, wasn't too bad and might actually scrape him a pass grade. For once Snape had ignored him for the entire class and didn't take a single chance to try and humiliate Harry or try and find an excuse to fail him.

He left the class feeling a little more cheerful. Whatever was wrong with Snape, it caused the ugly git to completely overlook him and Harry was quite happy with anything that did that. He followed Ron and Hermione up to the common room silently and, before they reached the room and whilst they were arguing over the potion recipe, in that Hermione was telling Ron what he had done wrong and he was begging her to shut up and leave him alone, he hung back and before anyone noticed him, he sneaked back in the direction he had just come from and headed back to the library.

Malfoy was already there, for once leaving his cronies behind and was alone. He was sat at a table, out of sight of anyone else, idly leafing through a book. He looked up as Harry approached and scowled slightly.

'You took your time,' he said coldly.

'Unlike you, I have friends,' Harry replied.

'What's the supposed to mean, Potter?'

'It means my friends ask me where I'm going and I have to make sure that they won't – '

'Ah, so what you're saying is that your friends dog your footsteps, never leave you alone and you have to lie to them or deceive them in order to speak to me,' Malfoy said, grinning.

'Shut up, Malfoy,' Harry said, slamming his books down on the table and sat down, glaring at the other boy. 'What do you want?'

'Seen that dragon thing recently?' Malfoy asked briskly.

Harry blinked at the sudden change of tone and said, 'No. You?'

'No.' Malfoy sniffed. 'You know what it is yet?'

'No,' Harry said, hesitating.

'Have you been trying to find out?'

Harry shrugged. 'Been busy,' he said abruptly.

'So you haven't.'

'What do you care?'

'If it was just your neck possibly on the line, then believe me Potter, I would stand back and enjoy the show,' Malfoy said venomously. 'Unfortunately, my neck might also be in danger.'

'Right, and you expect me to care?' Harry said shortly.

'Did you ask any of your mad friends?'

'No. You asked any friends or family?'

Malfoy shrugged, a gesture similar to Harry's. 'I did some reading. Unfortunately, since we don't know what it was, all I had to go on was a description which didn't get me very far.' He gave Harry a sanctimonious look. 'At least I got off my backside and tried, until some useless prats around here.'

Harry clenched his fists, took a deep breath, and said, 'Fine. I should have tried to find out myself, okay?' he said with difficulty. 'I'll do something this week.'

'You better,' Malfoy said crossly. 'I am _not_ going to be responsible for actually helping Harry Potter. Do you _know_ what that would do for my reputation?'

'Pretty much what it would do to mine,' Harry retorted. 'When I find something out, I'll tell you, all right?'

'All right,' Malfoy replied, rising and picking up his books. 'I cannot believe this situation,' he muttered moodily as he stamped away.

'Neither can I,' Harry said under his breath, glaring at the retreating Slytherin's back.

* * *

'Where did you disappear to after class?' Ron asked when Harry returned to the common room. He was sat at a table, looking mournfully at his untidy notes from class.

'I went to the library,' Harry said truthfully. He wasn't much good at lying to his friends so he was going to try and stick as closely to the truth as possible.

'Oh,' Ron said. 'Why didn't you tell us?'

'You two were arguing,' Harry said, shrugging.

'Okay,' Ron said.

Hermione was less easy to convince. She frowned at Harry. 'So where are your books?'

He started. 'My what?'

'Your books. From the library.'

'I didn't get any out,' he said. 'I just wanted to look for something.'

'What was that, then?'

'Nothing important.'

'So why did you go to the library if it wasn't important?'

Harry gritted his teeth. 'Why are you so interested, anyway? I just went to the library, no mystery! I didn't find what I wanted, no mystery! Why are you going on about this?'

She stared at him, then said, 'I just wondered.'

'Sometimes you wonder too much,' Harry growled, slumping into a comfortable armchair.

'Sometimes you act very strangely,' Hermione said crossly. 'Harry, when you're ready to tell us what's up with you, we'll be here. As usual.' With that, she spun and stormed off up the stairs to the girls' dormitory.

Ron and Harry looked at each other, open-mouthed, for a moment. Then Ron shrugged and said, 'She's right mate,' and went back to his notes.

Harry looked at his friend and felt terrible.


End file.
